• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

New Batavia spyware targets Russian industrial enterprises

 | 

Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Hunters International ransomware gang shuts down and offers free decryption keys to all victims

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 52

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 531 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates

 | 

Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

 | 

Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

 | 

A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

 | 

China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

 | 

Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

 | 

Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

 | 

Kelly Benefits data breach has impacted 550,000 people, and the situation continues to worsen as the investigation progresses

 | 

Cisco removed the backdoor account from its Unified Communications Manager

 | 

U.S. Sanctions Russia's Aeza Group for aiding crooks with bulletproof hosting

 | 

Qantas confirms customer data breach amid Scattered Spider attacks

 | 

CVE-2025-6554 is the fourth Chrome zero-day patched by Google in 2025

 | 

U.S. CISA adds TeleMessage TM SGNL flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

A sophisticated cyberattack hit the International Criminal Court

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • APT
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • Hacking
  • Malware
  • Trickbot gang and Lazarus APT, the hidden link behind an epochal phenomena

Trickbot gang and Lazarus APT, the hidden link behind an epochal phenomena

Pierluigi Paganini December 12, 2019

For the first time, experts shed the light on the link between the TrickBot gang and the North Korea-linked APT group Lazarus.

Security experts Sentinelone have published a report that for the first time sheds the light on the link between the TrickBot crimeware and the North Korea-linked APT group Lazarus.

For the first time, experts shed the light on the link between the TrickBot crimeware and the North Korea-linked APT group Lazarus.

According to the experts, the Lazarus APT group was using Anchor, a new TrickBot derivative project developed by the TrickBot crime gang.

“Research by the SentinelLabs’ team led by Vitali Kremez shows that a new TrickBot derivative project called ‘Anchor’ allows TrickBot customers access to higher-level APT-type functionality, tools and methods. These include loading frameworks such as Metasploit, Cobalt Strike and PowerShell Empire for further post-exploitation and clean-up routines to remove evidence of an attack.” reads the analysis published by SentinelLabs. “In their report, the SentinelLabs team reveal evidence that a known Lazarus toolkit, PowerRatankba, was loaded via the TrickBot Anchor project, thus unmasking the relationship between one of the world’s most successful crimeware operations and a nation-state actor interested not only in espionage but also financial reward”

The researchers discovered that North Korean hackers are renting access to hacking tools and access to compromised networks from the TrickBot operators.

Anchor is a collection of tools combined together into a new attack framework that enables TrickBot customers to target higher-profile victims. 

Instead of developing their own cyber arsenal, state-sponsored hackers choose to rent malware and hacking tools because this strategy allows them to speed-up the operations and make it hard the attribution of the attack.

SentinelOne researchers explained that the Anchor malware strain is provided as a TrickBot module, the gang is offering its customers access to its botnet and its tools, one of the most powerful botnets of ever.

The group was very active bank frauds, ransomware and malware campaigns, and cryptojacking attacks.

“During our investigation of Anchor, we discovered the tool PowerRatankba that was previously linked to the purported North Korean group was, in fact, used in Anchor.” continues the report “The specific evidence pointed out that this Lazarus group toolkit was loaded via the TrickBot Anchor project pointing to the now-unmasked relationship between the tools attributed to TrickBot “Anchor” group and Lazarus.”

Security experts at Cybereason published an analysis that corroborates the SentinelOne’s attribution, but they didn’t observe the use of the Anchor framework by the Lazarus Group. Cybereason only monitored a new wave of targeted attacks against financial, manufacturing and retail businesses that involved the use of the Anchor framework.

“Similar to attacks previously reported by Cybereason, this campaign started with a TrickBot infection and progressed into a hacking operation targeting sensitive financial systems.” reads the report published by Cybereason.

“However, unlike previous operations that focused on causing a massive ransomware infection (Ryuk and LockerGoga) by compromising critical assets like the domain controller, this new operation is focused on targeting Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems. The campaign leverages a newly discovered malware family called Anchor exclusively for high-profile targets.”

The discovery made by the researchers is extremely important for the cybersecurity community, the integration of the tools used by the Lazarus group into the Anchor platform represents a dangerous evolution of the cybercrime-as-a-service evolution.

The integration of the APT approach into the model adopted by the Trickbot gang is scaring and “turned its enterprise into a holistic ecosystem of cybercrime, becoming an essentially new phenomenon.”

The availability of a shared infrastructure for multiple APT groups opens to new attack scenarios in which the attribution is quite impossible and the efficiency of the attack is potentially devastating.

The Anchor platform is composed of different submodules that implement various features to conduct multiple operations such as spreading laterally through a target network, installing backdoors, and targeting Point-of-Sale (POS) systems.

“The Anchor is not simply a new addition to a long list of TrickBot modules and projects, it is a conclusion of many years of the cybercrime evolution, a point at which all puzzles assemble.” concludes the experts.

“The ability to seamlessly integrate the APT into a monetization business model is evidence of a quantum shift. By accomplishing this integration, TrickBot overtly demonstrates that they have achieved a qualitatively new level of a cybercrime enterprise, which was never seen before in magnitude and complexity superseding and dethroning the legacy of its previous inspiration and its playground known as “Business Club.””

[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – TrickBot Group, hacking)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

APR APT Hacking information security news North Korea Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News TrickBot Group

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 07, 2025
Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 07, 2025
U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    New Batavia spyware targets Russian industrial enterprises

    Uncategorized / July 07, 2025

    Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe

    Security / July 07, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / July 07, 2025

    Hunters International ransomware gang shuts down and offers free decryption keys to all victims

    Cyber Crime / July 06, 2025

    SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 52

    Security / July 06, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT